Hello, sequel to "Pride (in the name of love)"
by JoJo1
Summary: Two stubborn mutants meet again...


Archiving: WRFA, Mutual Admiration, Dolphin Haven. Anyone else, ask first please.  
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine today either.  
Feedback: Sure, bring it on.  
Setting: After the movie  
Authors notes: Wonder if Lionel Richie knows of Logan and Marie...still, that song is really beutiful so it's fitting I think.  
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Logan was pacing his motelroom. Of course, he wouldn't refer to  
it as pacing. He would say he was walking but it had all the  
characteristics of pacing. He walked from one side of the room  
to the other, then just turned on his heels and did the same  
thing over again. And again. And again.  
  
Maybe just a choice of words if it was pacing or walking but  
either way he did it just because he didn't know what else to do. He  
had fucked up, big time. Which he wasn't a stranger to but this time  
it had one major drawback that wasn't usually there. He regretted it, to  
the very bottom of his heart. Whenever he had fucked up before it had been  
in minor details or over things he didn't really care about one way or the  
other. It was just others that would have labeled them fuck-ups. This time  
he did it himself too and he knew why. It was the relationship he had had  
with Marie that he had screwed up. The only person he really cared about on  
this Godforsaken world. And she had made it blatantly clear what she  
thought about the whole deal. That she would have loved to be his friend if he  
hadn't been such a jackass to her.  
  
And he couldn't really blame her either he thought while trying to figure  
out what to do next and cursing his own inadequasies and selfdoubts in the mean  
time. Even if he hadn't had wanted her around he could have been a lot more thoughtful  
in how to break the news to her. But the truth was that he wanted her around. A  
lot. But as always when he found one that he cared about, he was afraid she would  
only get hurt because of what he himself was. The grim reality of the world had  
proven that to him more than once and he wasn't really prepared or willing to bury  
one more friend because they had wanted him as a friend or lover.  
  
But this time was different he mused. During the 15 years he could remember  
he hadn't had many friends or people close to him but even taking that into  
account, Marie stood out as a shining beacon. The one he would have done literally  
anything to protect and make feel loved. And for a short while he had  
thought he had done the right thing in trying to push her away. The only way he know of  
how to make her protected.  
  
Now though, he regretted that with every fibre of his being. All he had  
really succeeded in doing was to hurt her even more.  
  
"And what should I do about it?" he thought, "Staying in here and wearing  
out the carpet won't make any difference, will it?"  
  
With that thought, he came to a decision. No matter if it would do either of  
them any good but he would make at least one more try to make amends with Marie  
and he left his room in search for her.  
  
  
  
Meanwhile not far away Marie was confronting her own doubts regarding  
everything that had to do with her and Logan. She had come to the decision, however  
reluctantly, to give Logan one more chance but that didn't mean she wasn't  
afraid. Not of Logan. She knew he wouldn't hurt her intentionally. Not  
again. The regret she had seen in his eyes when it dawned upon him what he had done  
was evidence enough of that. She was more afraid of whether she had hurt him  
badly enough in walking away like that so he wouldn't ever be ready to see  
her ever again. She had tried hopelessly to get a clear reading of why she  
had acted like that and all that she had been able to come up with was  
"Sure he hurt me but what was I thinking in doing what I did? Everyone gets  
hurt every now and then. That's no excuse of walking out on the best friend  
I've ever had."  
  
  
With all those thoughts running through her brain she wasn't exactly paying  
much heed to who or what was around her and she found herself walking right  
into someone.  
  
A someone that turned out to be Logan, looking thouroughly confused and sad.  
  
"Hey" he said.  
"Hey yourself." she answered wondering how to take things from there when  
her mouth seemed to get a will of its own "I'm sorry I ran away like that."  
  
"It's okay. I can understand."  
"Can you ever forgive me?"  
"There's nothing to forgive. For me. The question is, can you forgive me?"  
  
Marie thought that over for a fraction of a second before answering  
"Yes. You know, why don't we make a fresh start instead of beating ourselves  
over the head for past failures?"  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Hello, my name's Marie. Nice to meet you."  
"Name's Logan. And the pleasure is all mine."  
  
They both felt so relieved that maybe sometimes things turns out for the  
best no matter how much fate decides to tip the scales against you that  
they instinctively wrapped one arm around the others waist and they walked  
away like that, smiling and letting things take care of themselves in their  
own sweet time. 


End file.
